Hamilton Brown Obituary

Hamilton "Ham" Brown

A retired physician, part-time geologist, community activist, and longtime resident of Taos, died peacefully at home on February 3, 2026, surrounded by his children. He was 85. The cause was an aggressive form of cancer. Ham was born May 17, 1940, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Hamilton Barksdale Brown and Deborah Childs Brown. He attended The Hotchkiss School (Class of 1958), Williams College (Class of 1962), and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine (MD, 1965), where he met and married the mother of his three children, Susanne Bradley Brown. Following medical school and internship, he joined the U.S. Public Health Service and was assigned to Tuba City, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation. There he fell in love with the rugged Southwest and developed a lifelong interest in backpacking and backcountry camping. After completing a Master of Public Health at Yale School of Public Health in 1969, Ham joined the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. During this time, he founded the Centro Familiar de Salud (now First Choice Community Healthcare), providing primary care to low-income residents of Albuquerque. Hamilton had a deep sense of social justice. He not only believed in community medicine and public health, but he also committed his time and energy to such causes. In 1973, Ham spent four years working in Haiti, at a hospital in Grande Rivière du Nord, often providing emergency care by kerosene lantern. He also focused on training mid-level practitioners to deliver basic medical services to underserved rural communities. Later, after his children were in college, Hamilton returned to Haiti with his first wife, Sue Brown, to volunteer on the Plain Du Nord, in Mombin Crochu. Returning to the United States, Ham devoted much of his time to nonprofit work. He joined the board of Oxfam America in the late 1970s. As his passion for environmental protection grew, he became active with The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico, eventually serving as chapter president. In 1990, Ham retired from medicine and moved to Taos with his second wife, Martha Worthington. The two enjoyed their life in rural New Mexico. In Taos, he became president of the Taos Land Trust, helping preserve important tracts of land, including the area around Horseshoe Curve south of town. He also served as president of his local water system for more than 20 years. His early love of the Grand Canyon evolved into a late-career pursuit of geology, during which he taught occasional classes at the University of New Mexico Taos Campus and helped lead regional field trips. Ham had many personal passions. He loved working on his small homestead, keeping the land safe from forest fires. He cherished hiking in the mountains behind his home and trekking deep into the Grand Canyon. He adored his neighbor, Cathy Marquez, and her grandchildren, Querida and Santiago. He was a dog lover and cherished each of the many dogs who shared his life, celebrating their companionship and grieving each loss. He remained a lifelong student and meditator, exploring various Eastern traditions. The Tao Te Ching was one of his favorite spiritual guides, and he spent years working on and completing a fictional book about Laozi. He traveled extensively, including journeys to the Arctic, Antarctic, and China, in pursuit of learning and connection. Ham is survived by his two former wives, Martha and Sue; his children, Bark Brown (Kim Brown), his only daughter, Jessie Brown Macfarland (Chris Castillo), and his youngest son, Charles Brown; and his three beloved grandchildren, Madison and Colin Brown, and Ciara Macfarland. He valued his close relationships with his sisters, Ellen Macfarland, Katharine Blakeslee, and Nancy Moyle (Mike Moyle), along with his many nieces and nephews. He will always be loved and missed by his entire family.